10 People You Wish You Were This Summer

Shooting girls in bikinis, designing surfboard masterpieces, taking care of your own private island. While you're sitting in your cubicle, check out some folks who you probably wouldn't mind switching places with for the summer.

1. Russell James -Victoria's Secret Photographer

Mike Flokis / Getty Images

What could be a better summer job than photographing beautiful women wearing practically nothing? Just ask Russel James. He's the man behind some pretty famous photographs, including the Tyra Banks pic that ended up on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

2. Ryan Harris- Surfboard Designer/Builder

Dan Phiffer / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: dphiffer

Imagine surfing the waves, designing the boards and getting paid for it. That's just how Ryan Harris spends his days! You can find him any day all summer long at the beach building the world's first ecologically friendly surfboards. As for an awesome summer gig, it doesn't get any better than that.

3. Nathan Sawaya- Lego Artist

Tony Fischer / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: tonythemisfit

Sometimes a summer hobby can turn into something much more. Nathan Sawaya was a successful corporate lawyer, but he dreamed of LEGOs. So in 2004, he told his boss he was quitting and gave up his six-figure salary to start playing with the plastic blocks full-time. Today, he's a “LEGO certified professional” whose work can be seen in museums and fine art galleries around the world.

4. Steph Davis- Professional Rock Climber

Cristian Bortes / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: bortescristian

There's no such thing as summer work fatigue when your home office is 14,000 feet in the air. And for Steph Davis, rock climbing, BASE jumping and wingsuit flying is all in a day's work.

5. Ben Southall - Caretaker Of A Paradise Island

Matthias Ripp / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: 56218409@N03

It's no secret that this dude probably doesn't mind working during the summer. Ben's fabulous job of managing an Australian tropical island involves a lot of chilling on the beach and a little bit of blogging.

6. Tommy Lynch- Water Slide Tester

John Clouston / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: 58017169@N06

Summer is the prime season for water slide tester, Tommy Lynch. Being the "cool pool tester" for a holiday's resort, his daily duties include checking the height, speed, water quantity and landing of the resorts' water slides to ensure that "everything is right" for vacationers.

7. Philippe Gilbert- Competitive Cyclist

Bryn Lennon / Getty Images

For Philippe Gilbert, the summer means one thing - The Tour de France. And as for the rest of the year, Philippe spends this time practicing and gearing up for the the main event, which is three weeks and usually include two rest days.

8. Johnny Ward- Professional Travel Blogger

Gopal Vijayaraghavan / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: t3rmin4t0r

Who wants a boring 9-5 job when you can instead travel the world and get paid for it? Meet . Aside from his quirky blog posts, Johnny also posts helpful tips to travelers such as what travel credit card to bring, how to choose a backpack and how others can monetize the travel blog.

9. Mike Prichinello and Zac Moseley -Car Aficionados

raider of gin / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: fairerdingo

Imagine driving a vintage Aston Martin down the Big Sur Coast Highway. For Prichinello and Moseley, this isn't just a dream, it's their jobs. After searching all over the world to find the coolest and most powerful cars around, the duo rent them out to more than 300 members that pay a $15,000 annual membership fee to drive the amazing collection of cars.

10. Amber Walbeck- Coordinator Of The Summer Games in London

Lee Thomas / CC BY http://2.0 / Flickr: londonfilmgeek

What could be better than being at the center of the summer games in London, and getting paid to do it! Just talk to Amber Walbeck of Salt Lake City who is currently living in London and working behind the scenes of the 2012 Summer Games. She is in charge of making sure that all of the sporting events during the games this summer run smoothly. Now talk about an awesome job.